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No offence to Mom or anything, but she's TERRIBLE at picking out snacks. She always buys healthy stuff that tastes awful, and she won't buy any NEW snacks until we've eaten all the old ones. SWEET POTATO COOKTES PRUNE JERKY BEET DIP HADDOCK SKIN CHIPS CHICKPEA CLUSTERS SEAWEED BARS So lately I've been having my best friend, Rowley, over for "tasting parties" to help me clear space in the cabinets.

我不是说妈妈坏话哦，可她挑零食的本事实在太差了。 她总买难吃的健康食品，而且非要我们吃完旧零食才肯买新的。 红薯饼干 西梅干 甜菜蘸酱 鳕鱼片脆 鹰嘴豆块 海苔棒 所以最近我总喊我最好的朋友罗利来我家开“试吃派对”，帮我清空橱柜腾地方。

When we got to the grocery store today, I split off from Mom, then loaded up the trolley with a bunch of my favourites. Then I grabbed a few healthy items just to make Mom happy. But it turns out MY idea of health food isn't the same as MOM's. When we met up again, she went over each item I picked out and explained why it wasn't good for me. She held up a bottle of fruit juice, which I thought was a pretty solid choice on my part. But Mom said it was full of SUGAR and there wasn't any nutritional value to it. I told Mom she was wrong, because there was a picture of tons of different fruits right there on the bottle.

今天我们去杂货店的时候，我跟妈妈分开走，然后往购物车里塞了好多我最爱吃的。 不过我也拿了几样健康食品，就是哄妈妈开心而已。 结果我眼里的健康食品，跟妈妈认同的完全不是一回事。 我们汇合之后，她把我挑的每样东西都拿出来，跟我解释为什么这些对身体不好。 她拿起一瓶果汁，我本来觉得我挑这个选得挺棒的。 可妈妈说这里面全是糖，一点营养价值都没有。 我跟妈妈说她错了，瓶子上明明印了一大堆不同水果的图案啊。

Then Mom showed me the label, and I couldn't believe they can even get away with that. Mom said that, if you really want to know what's in the food you buy, you have to read the list of ingredients. And she told me the cans of Chef Marinara pasta I had in the trolley were full of all sorts of CHEMICALS. But I knew Mom was wrong about THAT one, because I've seen the Chef Marinara ads on television that show him making his pasta by hand in Old Italy.

然后妈妈给我看食品标签，我简直不敢相信他们居然能这么明目张胆。 妈妈说，如果你真想知道买的食物里有什么，就得看配料表。 她还说我推车里那罐玛丽娜主厨意面，里面全是各种各样的化学添加剂。 可我知道妈妈这次肯定说错了，因为我在电视上看过玛丽娜主厨的广告，广告里他就在古意大利亲手做意面啊。

Mom showed me the small print on the back of the can, which said the food was made in a factory in Detroit. She said Chef Marinara probably wasn't even a real person, and they just hired an actor for those TV ads. Well, that made me feel pretty stupid for dressing up as Chef Marinara in our Wax Figure Exhibit at school last year.

妈妈指给我看罐子背面的小字，上面写着这食物其实是底特律一家工厂生产的。 她说玛丽娜主厨可能根本就不是真人，他们只是雇了个演员拍电视广告而已。 这下好了，我想起去年学校蜡像展我还扮成玛丽娜主厨，顿时觉得自己好傻啊。

Then I started to wonder if Rotten Rudy was a real person, because those Rotten Rudy TV ads scared me into drinking a gallon of milk every day. DON'T BE LIKE ROTTEN RUDY. SHOULDA DRUNK MILK! DRINK MILK Mom said food companies are really clever about slipping their advertising into places you wouldn't expect, which made me think about the posters that are up in our hallways at school. READ AND REFRESH FOOD PYRAMID BERRY BONANZA. BOOKS+ BERRY BONANZA 44

然后我就开始想，那个坏鲁迪是不是也是真人？因为看了他的电视广告，我吓得每天都喝一加仑牛奶。 千万别像坏鲁迪那样。 早就该多喝牛奶！ 快喝牛奶呀 妈妈说食品公司特别狡猾，总把广告藏在你想不到的地方，这下我想起我们学校走廊贴的海报了。 开卷有益 食物金字塔 莓果盛宴。 书籍+ 莓果盛宴 44

She explained that sometimes packaged-food companies use cartoon characters to get young kids to want their products. And I think she's right, because before we left the house today Manny was watching an episode of "The Murples" where Munchy Murple was chowing down on a bowl of Rock Candy Crunch cereal. CRUNCH CRUNCH MUNCH MUNCH Mom told me that when she buys food for the family she checks the labels and doesn't buy anything with ingredients she can't pronounce. Then she said the best thing to do is buy food with only ONE ingredient, like fruit and vegetables.

她跟我解释说，有时候包装食品公司会用卡通人物引诱小孩子想买他们的产品。 我觉得她说得对，因为我们今天出门前，曼尼还在看《怪物一家》，那一集里馋嘴怪物正抱着一大碗摇滚脆麦片吃得香呢。 咔嚓咔嚓 嚼呀嚼 妈妈跟我说，她给家里买吃的时候，总会检查标签，不买那些有她读不出来的配料的食品。 然后她说最好就买只有一种配料的食物，比如水果和蔬菜。